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Ten years in the making, The Vietnam War (klru.org/
vietnam) is the latest epic documentary from lauded
filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. The 10-episode,
18-hour series, which premieres on PBS Sept. 17, examines
the disastrous war from all sides and angles, turning our
assumptions and perceptions of the period inside-out.
No one excavates and examines a subject like Burns
and Novick, whose previous works such as The Civil War and
Jazz have helped viewers better understand our history and,
thus, our present. Recently, KLRU-TV, Austin PBS and the
LBJ Presidential Library—an indispensable resource for the
filmmakers—invited Burns to preview select clips in front
of a capacity crowd that included many veterans. We later
talked with Burns, who shared insight into what will surely
be a provocative national conversation starter this fall.
AT THE SCREENING, YOU SAID
WORKING ON THE SERIES UPENDED
EVERYTHING YOU KNEW ABOUT
VIETNAM AND THAT EVERY
DAY WORKING ON THIS WAS A
"HUMILIATING REMINDER" ABOUT
WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW. WHAT
SHOULD VIEWERS EXPECT?
I think the viewers are going to relive
our experience, perhaps not with the
same degree of
humiliation. We
spent a decade
trying to not only
shed our own
preconceptions,
but to get the
facts right.
HOW
RELEVANT IS
THE VIETNAM
WAR TO
WHAT THE
COUNTRY IS
DEALING WITH
TODAY POLITICALLY?
Imagine I told you I had been
working on a film in which mass
demonstrations take place across
the country, that it's about a White
House in disarray and obsessed
with leaks, a big document drop
of classified material that shatters
everything, one political campaign
reaching out to a foreign power at
the time of a national election and
asymmetrical warfare that leaves
the U.S. military, the finest in the
world, unsure and unclear about how
to fight it. You would say, 'You've
abandoned history and are talking
about right now!' It's eerie, but that's
true of many films I've worked on.
THIS YEAR MARKS THE 50TH
ANNIVERSARY OF LBJ SIGNING THE
PUBLIC BROADCASTING ACT. HOW
VITAL IS PBS TO YOUR WORK?
ere's only one place in our media
spectrum where I could have
made this film, and that is public
broadcasting. No one would have
permitted the time and amount
of money it took to produce this.
e great foresight of President
Johnson to sign the act was an
extension of what government does
really well. It's possible to create an
entity that has one foot tentatively
in the marketplace, but one foot
proudly out and thus free to engage
topics of national interest.
WHAT DID PREVIEWING THE DOC
IN AUSTIN MEAN TO YOU?
at was a really special screening for
all of us involved, to have President
Johnson's two daughters in the
front row and to be doing it at the
Johnson Library. With Johnson and
the war, the level
of drama reaches
Shakespearean
proportions. It's
already driven me
toward doing a series
on the history of his
presidency. So much
of what he's doing
domestically is off
stage in our Vietnam
film, and you begin
to realize that the
din of the fighting
drowns out his ability
to accomplish his
ambitious domestic agenda. I'd like
to turn that inside-out and for us to
understand his extraordinary legacy.
e Vietnam War will air from
7-9
pm on KLRU Sept. 17-21,
24-28. KLRU will also tell local
stories and host screenings.
An American soldier spends time
with his siblings before leaving for
Vietnam on "Episode Seven: The
Veneer of Civilization (June
1968-May 1969)" from The Vietnam
War. Below: Filmmaker Ken Burns
at the LBJ Library this spring.
WAR
STORIES
Ken Burns discusses his newest epic,
The Vietnam War, the
importance of PBS and why he wants to tackle LBJ next.
By Kathy Blackwell
S O C I E T Y & C U L T U R E
t e l e v i s i o n
3 4
A U S T I N W A Y S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | M O D E R N L U X U R Y . C O M
KEN
BURNS
PHOTO
BY
JAY
GODWIN,
PHOTO
FROM
THE
VIETNAM
WAR
COURTESY
OF
PBS